Second Chamber of the States-General of Dutch Lower Saxony
CDA (49) VVD (24) Opposition (47) SGP (13) SP (13) D66 (8) PvdA (7) CU (4) GL (2) |session_room = |meeting_place = The Old Monastery, Amersfoort}}The Second Chamber of the States-General of Dutch Lower Saxony is the and together with the First Chamber forms the States-General of the Saxonian state of Dutch Lower Saxony, in the Seafaring Confederation. The States-General became the of Dutch Lower Saxony as of independence from the in 1835 following the Dutch Low Saxonian Revolution. Within this representative assembly, the Second Chamber is directly elected by eligible voters in the state of Dutch Lower Saxony, as opposed to the First Chamber, which is indirectly elected through the members of the States-Provincial. Elections are held every four years. The Second Chamber has its seat in the Old Monastery in Amersfoort. History Functions The Second Chamber, together with the First Chamber, functions as the controlling organ over the State Government of Dutch Lower Saxony. This entails, amongst other things, the ability to summon State Ministers before the Chamber for . The Second Chamber is also where the majority of Ministers are taken from to form the Cabinet; the Prime Minister is, by convention, the leader of the largest party in the Second Chamber. A Cabinet will fall if it loses the trust of a majority of the Second Chamber. Constitutionally, the Second Chamber has three main tasks: *keep a check on Government policies; *legislation (together with the Government en de First Chamber); *representation of the people of Dutch Lower Saxony. The Second Chamber has several ways to keep a check on Government policies. The most important of these is the right of budget, meaning that the Second Chamber can approve or reject ministerial budgets, or amend them if desired. The rights of interpellation and are also important rights of the Chamber. Lastly and most importantly legislatively is the right of , meaning that any member of the Second Chamber can propose to amend a piece of legislation that has been brought before the Chamber. The Second Chamber can also pass . The Chamber can use a motion to express an opinion, or request an action of a Minister or the whole Cabinet. Depending on what kind of motion is passed, a Minister can either ignore it, choose to resign (in case of a Motion of Disapproval) or be forced to resign (Motion of Distrust). The Second Chamber also has the right of initiative, meaning that members of the Chamber, individually or together, can draft legislation. Elections See also: Dutch Lower Saxony electoral constituencies. Elections are held every four years on the second Wednesday of May, when all 120 representatives are elected. Voters are asked to fill in two separate ballots: one for a regional representative, and one from a party list. 102 out of 120 representatives are elected based on 51 two-member constituencies. If a party wins more than half of the votes in a constituency, then it takes both seats. If no party wins more than half of the votes within a consituency, then the two largest parties receive one seat, unless the largest party has 50% more votes than the second largest party, in which case the largest party still takes the two seats. The remaining 18 seats are elected through . The 18 seats are assigned to parties based on their share of the general vote, with parties needing at least 5% of the general vote in order to receive a seat. Results See also: Dutch Lower Saxony state election results and Results of the Dutch Lower Saxony state elections, 2014. The last elections took place on 14 May, 2014. Polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 9 p.m. The results were as follows: Composition The 120 seats are taken by parties or independents depending on how many constituencies they have (partially) carried and their share of the general vote. As of June 2016, the largest party in the Second Chamber is the CDA, a party, with 49 out of 120 seats. It is in a coalition with the VVD, a and second largest party with 24 out of 120 seats. Together, the coalition has 73 out of 120 seats, a 13-seat majority. The two third largest parties are the SGP and the SP, each with 13 out of 120 seats. The Socialist Party coincidentally is the largest left-wing party in the Second Chamber; the left wing, as a whole, in the Second Chamber consists of three parties and has 22 out of 120 seats (the PvdA has 7 seats and the GroenLinks has 2). They often cooperate as one political block within the Second Chamber. The D66 has 8 out of 120 seats. D66 often cooperates with the VVD and supports the CDA-VVD coalition. Lastly there is the ChristenUnie, which has 4 seats. Though it is officially described as "social", it is often seen as centre-right. It often cooperates with the two other Christian parties CDA and SGP (coincidentally, the three Christian parties could too form a coalition with a majority of 6 seats), although it also often works together with the left-wing political block. Historical The composition of the Second Chamber of Dutch Lower Saxony has historically been relatively right wing and relatively Christian. The CDA and its three preceding parties (the Christelijk-Historische Unie (CHU), the Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (ARP) and the Katholieke Volkspartij (KVP)) have been the largest (group of) parties ever since the founding of the ARP in 1879, and have always been part of the government coalition. The composition within parliament has been relatively stable since the 1970s, with most elections seeing a swing of only 2 in the largest parties at most. The exception was between 1998 and 2006, when the CDA had a majority of seats in the Second Chamber and thus did not need to form a coalition. Geographical Whereas the CDA, VVD and GroenLinks enjoy general nationwide support, most other parties are dependent on local voters - most notably the SGP and the SP. The SGP profits from the drawing of constituency boundaries in the Veluwe, where a predominantly and reformed population lives. It is from these constituencies in the Veluwe alone that the SGP receives 9 of its seats. The SP profits from the constituencies in the eastern part of the province of Groningen, where it gets 7 from its seats from those constituencies alone. Recently the SP has also profited from PvdA voters in larger working class cities changing to voting for the SP. The PvdA profits from its constituencies in smaller working class cities, most notably Ljouwert and Deventer. D66 profits mostly from constituencies located in cities inhabited by large groups of students, most notably Enschede, Groningen, Zwolle and Amersfoort.